Coaching

Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu has been a coach for many teams, but in such a short amount of time. This has caused controversy, but on the other side of the coin has caused many to respect him. Today, I’m going to detail his journey as a coach and how he got to where he is today.

Tempo Storm/Games Academy

Peacemaker started his journey as a coach in Games Academy. Although, not really given any recognition until later into his time with Tempo Storm, he had been the in-game-leader of the team since being added.

Photo by: hltv.org

Having a huge impact in the North American scene as well as their entrance onto the international stage, peacemaker led the Brazilian team to the top of the rankings in NA. Before this, the only time we heard of them was when they took a map off of Cloud9 at the RGN Pro Series LAN back in November of 2015. The next time we heard of them was when Luminosity took Lincoln “fnx” Lau and Epitácio “TACO” de Melo from Games Academy, leaving them with Ricardo “boltz” Prass who later became their star player.

After qualifying for the MLG Major Qualifier over Winterfox, GA were picked up by Tempo Storm, taking peacemaker with them. From this point, Tempo Storm was able to make the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice 2016. They then won the CEVO Gfinity Pro-League Season 9 Finals later on against the Danish SK Gaming.

A week after winning the CEVO LAN, Tempo Storm dropped peacemaker from their lineup. Most people thought that we wouldn’t be seeing much of peacemaker on a non Brazilian team.

Team Liquid

Six days after being dropped by Tempo Storm, Liquid picked up peacemaker as their new coach. Mind you, this isn’t during the time they had their lineup with Oleksandr “simple” Kostyliev and Josh “jdm64” Marzano. This was Liquid’s lineup with a dysfunctional Kenneth “Koosta” Suen and misplaced Eric “adreN” Hoag.

Joining Liquid, peacemaker had a tough task in front of him. A week after his addition, his team had to play ELEAGUE Season One. In their group was LG/SK, Cloud9, and Renegades. They left Atlanta that week with zero maps won. Coming close on some maps, but otherwise being blown out of the water. This is where peacemaker learned how much work he had to do. ELEAGUE was the only LAN he coached while Koosta and adreN were on the squad.

Two weeks before the ECS Season One finals, Liquid announced that they would be playing with jdm and s1mple at ECS and ESL One Cologne 2016. They also announced that s1mple is only standing in, and that they are picking up a rifler for after Cologne. This player was later revealed to be Jacob “Pimp” Winneche. With this lineup, peacemaker had the best North American AWPer, one one of the best players in the world and one of the best in North America.

Photo by: hltv.org

Coming out of ECS, Liquid had flashes of brilliance, but there were still issues that needed to be worked on. Leading into Cologne, Liquid had a bootcamp where peacemaker was able to work with the team. Contrast to only having less than two weeks to prepare for ECS, peacemaker had more time on top of that for Cologne. Their result speaks for itself. The time and effort put into the bootcamp was used well, giving them the strategies and power to make the finals of a Major.

After the Major and when they finally had Pimp on their lineup, Valve banned coaches from talking during a round. This was not only a huge blow to the whole scene, this was a massive step back for Liquid. They lost their only in-game-leader, and leader in general. This shone brightly from the time of the announcement to the end of peacemaker’s time in Liquid.

Liquid would only attend one more LAN until peacemaker left; while they had a decent placing at ESL One New York, everything else around the team was a pile of crap. They failed to qualify for ELEAGUE Season Two, losing a Bo3 to Echo Fox. Along with that they played pretty bad in EPL’s 4th season, only qualifying due to the fact that Renegades couldn’t attend the finals. Shortly after EPL ended, peacemaker had left the team on his own terms.

OpTic Gaming

When Spencer “Hiko” Martin was announced to be playing for OpTic as a stand-in, the same was the case for peacemaker in the coaching position. Almost immediately, OpTic played Dreamhack Masters Las Vegas. While they did have a decent start to the tournament, upsetting North, they faltered and ended up losing out in the group stage. While many, myself included, gave the team the benefit of the doubt as they didn’t have long to prepare, they didn’t show much anywhere else even a while after the event.

Photo by: hltv.org

OpTic’s second LAN under peacemaker was IEM Katowice 2017, an event where peacemaker saw his first success a year prior. This year, it was the complete opposite. OpTic ended the tournament 0-5, not winning a single map in the group stage.

Almost two weeks after Katowice, peacemaker was cut from OpTic. It was announced that the players just didn’t like the style that peacemaker used.

Misfits

Four days after the entrance of their French duo, peacemaker joined the team as their Head Coach. His first long term team with a proper leader, Sean “sgares” Gares. While in the online season of EPL, peacemaker wasn’t able to make much impact as the season was almost over. But, Misfits were able to participate in qualifiers for some LANs.

They were able to qualify for Dreamhack Tours and the Americas Minor. But, they fell trying to qualify for Dreamhack Summer and ESL One Cologne. Qualifying for Tours was definitely a good thing for them though, as François “AmeNEk” Delauney and David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljevic were able to play on home soil.

Photo by: hltv.org

Coming in to Dreamhack Tours, Misfits fell in their first match to Natus Vincere. But on the second day, Misfits came back swinging. Upsetting both Heroic and Na’Vi in Bo3s to make the semifinals against Hellraisers, who they fell against. At this event, whether it was a joint effort from peacemaker and Sean, or just the sheer firepower from Shahzeb “Shahzam” Khan, this lineup was working for peacemaker.

The weeks leading into the Americas Minor was rough for Misfits. Not only was Sean unable to attend due to his wedding, Misfits benched Shahzam the weekend before the event. This was an issue, a big one. Misfits already lost their in-game-leader for the event, and now their best player has been benched. Immediately the community came to blame peacemaker for the decision. While the public only knows that Shahzam was benched due to no commitment to a bootcamp. Speaking to peacemaker himself, I was also told there were other internal issues surrounding Shahzam.

Immediately the community came to hate and blame peacemaker for the decision to bench Shahzam. Him saying that it wasn’t only his decision fueled the fire even more. Since then, the situation has been solved.

Originally I had said that peacemaker had lost his position as Head Coach, which is wrong. Peacemaker has corrected me and told me that he is still the Head Coach of the team. Making note that tweet from Misfit’s owner was badly worded.

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When you look at the Boston Celtics’ roster, a couple names will stand out.

First there is Isaiah Thomas, the NBA’s third highest scorer. The two-time All-Star point guard is the clear leader in Boston. Everything starts and ends with him.

Then there is Al Horford, a 10-year veteran and four-time All Star. He’s also the team’s leading rebounder. There was a lot of excitement among Boston fans when they signed him this past summer. He averaged 14 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in his first season with the team.

The last name that might stand out to you is Avery Bradley. He is more known for his defense, but has improved his scoring over the years.

There aren’t really any weapons on this Boston team besides those guys. A 12-point gap exists between their leading scorer and second-highest scorer in terms of points per game. No one averages even seven rebounds a game on their team.

However, the Celtics ranked seventh in points per game. They also move the ball very well, evidence by their 25.2 assists per game, which ranked fourth in the league. They take care of the ball as well with the ninth fewest turnovers in the league at only 13.3 per game.

All of these things have contributed to Boston getting to the top of the Eastern Conference this season. The Celtics do not look intimidating on paper, so how did they do it?

Brad Stevens took Butler to back-to-back title games. (Photo by Zimbio)

The answer is Brad Stevens. Stevens has done so much for the organization in the four seasons he has been with the team. He took them from nothing and turned them into contenders.

Before Stevens came to Boston, he was working his magic with the Butler Bulldogs. In his six seasons with the team he went 166-49 and brought Butler to the National Championship game in back-to-back seasons. They may not have won either of them, but Stevens put Butler on the map.

Stevens has been known for his young age. When initially hired at Butler, he was the second-youngest coach in NCAA Division I basketball. Later on he became the third-youngest coach in NCAA Division I history to have a 30-win season. He was also the second-youngest coach to make an NCAA Championship game and youngest coach to make two Final Fours.

When Stevens signed with Boston, he was the league’s youngest active coach at 36 years old. The young genius did not have much to work with when he first came to Boston in 2013. Yes, the team went 41-40 the season before, which was good enough for the seventh seed in the playoffs.

However, the team made a blockbuster trade with the Nets and lost key contributors like Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. They received Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, three first-round picks and the right to swap first-round picks this season.

Looking back, Boston obviously won this trade because of the draft picks, but the players they received were not much to be happy about. Joseph was waived not too long after the trade and the four remaining players averaged a combined 18.6 points per game in their first season in Boston. Neither of those guys are on the team today.

The starting lineup featured guys like Avery Bradley, Brandon Bass and Jeff Green. Green lead the team in scoring at just 16.9 points per game. Star point guard Rajon Rondo only played in 30 games due to an injury he suffered in the season before. It was a tough first year for Stevens in Boston as the team finished 25-57.

In Stevens’ second season, he improved the Celtics to a 40-42 record. It was not a winning record, but it was 15 more wins than the previous season and was good enough to get Boston back to the playoffs. They suffered a first-round sweep to the Cleveland Cavaliers, so there was still a lot of room for improvement.

The Celtics finished 48-34 in the next season, but still couldn’t get past the first round of the playoffs. They lost to the Hawks in six games. At least it was not a sweep like the previous season. This year, they finally got past the first-round.

Imagine how much better Stevens will get as he continues to gain experience. (Photo by The Boston Globe)

Now in his fourth season, Stevens has the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. They finished first in the East with a 53-29 record. Only the Cavs stand in their way of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. It is going to be a tough task considering LeBron James has been in the Finals the last six seasons.

Regardless of the end result, look at what Stevens has done with the team. He took them from one of the worst teams in the East to the top seed. Stevens should be right up their in the league’s top coaches along with Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr. It might finally be time for Stevens to win NBA Coach of the Year.

Stevens has the Celtics at the top of the East despite only having one All Star this season. The second-seeded Cavs have three and the third-seeded Raptors have two.

Stevens has had a short career in coaching so far with only 10 years between college and the NBA. He is also only 40 years old. He is so young and has had so much success already in the time he has had. Imagine what he can become in the future with the amount of experience Popovich has had. Also imagine what he could do with a few more star players.

They will be adding to their bright future in the offseason as they just won the NBA draft lottery. They will also have the Nets’ draft pick next season. Stevens is going to continue to get young talent to work with veterans like Thomas, Horford and Bradley for the upcoming years. It is going to be interesting to see if Boston will ever take down the Cavs.

Featured Image by NBA.com

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Smash is trending towards the influx of personal coaches for top players. The recent signing of Daniel “Tafokints” Lee to Cloud 9 to coach one of the most experienced players in Melee, Joseph “Mango” Marquez, was the second significant player to sign on a coach.

I talked to the first player to ever sign with a team as a Melee coach, not as a player. Luis “Crunch” Rosias was signed by Team Liquid back in July, 2016, to be a coach to one of the world’s best players in Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma. Crunch spoke to the effectiveness of Melee coaches and the impact it could have on a player’s success.

“Yeah, I think coaching is really effective. Juan never dreamed of winning Evo a few years ago when I started coaching him,” said Crunch, “It’s good to have a second set of eyes and to help boot camp before events.”

The results since Crunch signed on as a coach are undeniable. Hungrybox is having his best year as a professional, and it’s safe to say Crunch has had a serious impact on maintaining his level of play. Crunch’s main focus is analysis prior to events.

“Juan’s not great at analysis,” said Crunch, “I try to focus specifically on analysis. He needs someone to look over everything in more detail. It’s different for every player.”

Crunch talked about working through a players weaknesses inside and outside of tournaments. He pointed out Hungrybox’s match and player analysis needed some work, but that he excelled in other areas and didn’t have to work as hard on the mental approach. Each player has different needs that a coach has to work through.

“Mango talked about having someone to help him get to sleep on time,” Crunch continued, “M2k (Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman) needs a player he’ll listen to. He can play for hours with random players but could be getting better practice.”

Crunch went deeper into his approach to coaching in Melee. He spoke about the three main aspects he tries to focus on: “It comes down to three different types of roles as a coach. Sports psychology, as in keeping him warm and prepared mentally during a tournament. The second is analysis, and the third is having a practice partner near the same level who can help practice any situation,” said Crunch.

Coaches are the future of Smash. It might seem farfetched from an outsider’s perspective, but having a reliable person to help with all the aspects of being a professional Smash player can’t go understated. The Crunch and Tafokints’ signings are just the start.

“CLG was looking” said Crunch, “there’s definitely interest from some of the other larger teams.”

As a result, more Smash players will get signed on as coaches, as this niche role will soon turn into a necessity. Teams clearly see the value in coaching. This might make them more inclined to bring in coaches, to help keep players motivated and work through the struggles of being a professional Smash player. With two of the larger organizations in esports already signing Smash coaches, expect more top players to seek out a personal coach.

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